Knitting by Zen

Lots and lots of yarn for sale!

I’ve been dyeing up a storm recently but you may notice a lot of purple and pink in there - not a lot of orange or red this time! But instead of posting the photos here in their entirety, click the link to pop up the skein you are going to purchase.

Postage - $5 for one skein, up to 500g (2-5 skeins depending on the type of yarns!) for no extrapostage cost. More than 500g and we’ll have to discuss. International purchases MORE than welcome.

Sock yarn (100g, 3ply superwash Australian wool - grown and milled and dyed) - $25 per skein
- Quantum Quatro
- Quantum Quatro

- Blue Moon
- Blue Moon

- Wisteria Thistle
- Wisteria Thistle

- Raspberry Beret
- Raspberry Beret
- Raspberry Beret
- Raspberry Beret

- Very Vermilion
- Very Vermilion

- Gold Fingers and Toes
- Gold Fingers and Toes

200g 12 py cashmere (this is a one-off skein and I am having trouble parting with it!) - $48 for the skein
- Roses are red

200g mohair/wool blend - $35 per skein
- Tomato Soup

- Raspberry Tea

- Blackberry Fool

30% wool / 69.6% cotton / 0.4% Lycra - $24 per skein
- Leprechaun

 
100g 8 ply 50:50 hemp and wool - $18 per skein
- Spearmint Heaven

200g skein 8ply 65% wool / 25% Blue Faced Leicester wool / 10% mohair - $37 per skein
- Palatinate purple
- Palatinate purple

- Pink Rouge

200g baby wool 100% superwash 3ply - $32 per skein
- Leprechaun (dyed dark Kelly Green through to white along the skein, for a UNIQUE effect as the start of the skein is different to the end)

Alpaca (8 ply - Australian grown, milled and dyed) - $42 per skein
- Strawberry Mousse

200g 8 ply superwash wool - $32 per skein

- Emerald City
- Emerald City
- Emerald City

- Port Wine Stain
- Port Wine Stain

- Grapey Goodness

- Passionfruit Vine

200g 8 ply 75% wool / 20% mohair / 5% alpaca - $44 per skein
- Rosebud Lips

- Hazelnut Cream

Photos all over the place!

Names!! Ok! Names!

Top 3 are upclose and personal on something or other, and another notsocloseup, and then yay! a decent group shot. It’s like taking photos of small children who’ve been on red cordial and cocopops for breakfast.

Then Spaghettification, Cold Nebula and Quite Cedar.

Row 3 is Cat’s Pjamas, Persephone and Deep River.

Orange Meow, Emerald City and Cherry Tree Lane (back by popular demand!!!).

And last but not least - Crayons in a Blender.  

I posted off a heap more sock yarn to OnePlanet the other day and by now I’m hoping that it’s arrived. This yarn was different and special because it is not the usual space-dyed stuff. Indeed it was pot luck - I dyed it in the pot, then painted spots and dots and stripes onto it so how it knits up is anyone’s guess! I also named them all sorts of things with the able help of Osk. And Zaria of course.

Ok so that’s just a taste - more photos when I swear some more coax my computer into letting me do so.

In the meantime:

"What, do I have something on my head?" 

Hi! I have just listed a range of yarns for your edification. With Christmas coming, I thought it would be a good time to offer my yarns, either for you to turn into a gorgeous creating or to gift to a lovely
knitter or crocheter in your life.

Link to yarn 

I’m drowning under school work at the moment - I have 3 weeks left to get through exams and such, then two weeks of placement. I haven’t knit for AGES though, so not a lot to show you - a Monkey Sock is somewhere by (and my pal knows this) I will be late in sending it off because I need to uni-on before then. Tubey is getting longer and more interested - no up to date pictures but I am now an inch down the body! Here’s a pic of the sleeves, nearly done:

I have been a-travelling recently as well - I have been to Canberra and saw the great things:

Bestest buddy part the first, The Knitting Revoluntionary:

Friends Amanda and Ness with bub on board:

Horses:

Me in my beret and scarf: 

It’s been a long month, so here’s some top headlines:

1. YARN FOR SALE!! I have 11 8 skeins of yarn for sale at the moment, and in fact at least one of them is a double up, so if you bid on it you may end up getting a skein anyway.

2. I am getting the dye pot out tomorrow hopefully. It’s exciting to have orders to dye for, and plans for colours. I have a heap of REALLY exotic yarns (cashmere, mohair, silk etc) to dye up and sell and I’m excited to see how they go.

3. I knat a scarf for someone! She says she loves it too:

The scarf is knit for 45cm in cables, and then the remaining 100cm in a very simple "lace" stitch… To do the scarf, cast on 54 st (I used 8ply wool on 6mm needles) and knit 3 rows, then k3, (k1p1) 8 times, C16F, (k1p1) 8 times, k3. Knit another 7 rows. Then k3, C16F, (k1p1) 8 times, C16F, k3. Repeat until you are sick to death of cabling and wishing it wasn’t 30C when you were trying to knit it.

At this point you, like me, may decide to do something a tad more sensible than continue with the cables as it is about to get a lot warmer here. So the idea is that there is enough cabling to go around the neck, and then the lofty lacy part to get the length up, but without making your neck melt! To do this, I did a double decrease (slip 1, k2tog, psso), with a single decrease in the middle stitches of the row because there are 54 stitches in the row, which is not divisible by three! I then switched to 12mm needles (hah! You thought it was something exciting!!!) and I continued on my merry way.

The white splotch is a fantastic "From the knitting needles of Em" lable from a previous swap pal by the way.

4. I am now a Tupperware demonstrator. I think that makes me insane.

5. Some of my yarn has sold at One Planet Yarns! I am so excited about this for two reasons - firstly, I have $$ coming to me (which makes a big change for my student-inspired budget) and because it means people love my yarns!

6. I forget sometimes that knitters are people too. I know knitters from lots of walks of life, knitters who are older than me and even a few that are younger than me. I am surprised though when I come across knitters who are bigoted, racist, sexist or just plain obnoxious. I sometimes forget that being a knitter doesn’t *always* make you a nice person.

7. I’ve been dyeing yarn for my friend Mel as well:

For a change, these photos are crap. They were taken on an ugly table under false lights and don’t do the yarn justice in the slightest! The top yarn for example is emerald green, not a shade of blah. *sigh* 

8. I’m knitting another scarf:

It’s the Dayflower Scarf pattern and it’s lovely!

Last of all - Zaria says "I has a flava"

Wow it’s been a hectic few weeks since I last chatted at you.

In the first exciting news, my inaugral packet of yarn is finally on its way to the United States to join the stable at One Planet Yarn and Fibre! My sock yarn is over there and here is a picture of what I sent off last week:

More photos are available on Flickr.

Last week, I had the amazing pleasure of going to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Festival! It was SO MUCH FUN and yes there was a whole lot of stash enhancement. My favourite part was the acquisition of 50g of the most gorgeous hand spun and hand dyed rabbit angora, which I’m slowly turning into a scarf.

Hello blog readers - I am still here, kindof! I am in the land of ExamRevision, so I am not knitting much or blogging much. I have new glasses which makes life a lot more pleasant!

I have finished Sonnet though! And it is very warm. Photos as yet not done. I have been doing lots of dyeing though and have some very exciting new products on the horizon! I also have a few new exciting business things up my sleeve - being an indie dyer is hard work sometimes but then again, life occassionally drops lots of lovely things in your lap all at once.

Examples of the latest dyeing (including some new colourways!): 

Toffee Apple: 

Shin kicking cowgirl:

Bees Knees:

And some very exciting new yarn, a cotton/lycra/wool blend perfect for socks:

Pink Lemonade:

Sunset: 

For sale soon!! 

I’m so excited with myself today because I finished my secret-pal item and I am DYING to show you how it went, but I’ll be restrained until it’s safely posted and off! Suffice it to say that I’m going to make some for me.

I got two packages this morning - a whole heap of textbook (woo my life is so exciting when I get happy about textbooks!) and a package from a (now not so secret!) secret pal!

Inside was a gorgeous little bag, and a lovely hat, and some teas! I love tea and I really appreciate someone buying me some .

The hat was Coronet from Knitty abley modelled by Oscar there (so it’s probably a smidge big for my head but that’s ok because it covers my ears!!!) and Sophie from Magknits, in the most perfect red Cascade 220. Oscar said that it was the most perfect felting he had ever seen by the way. I feel very loved and thought of when this was made, and want to thank the lovely Christine for my package!!!

In other knitting news, I’ve made lots of stitch markers:

LAST of all: is this for you? Are you my secret pal? Do you love these so much you want me to be your pal? Hmmmm - all will be revealed in a few days!!

Ok I lied - one more thing. I love dyeing yarn and will put up a tutorial shortly on it but I wanted to say that I find it fantastic that I can love it so much that a skein of yarn moves me almost to tears. Here is the skein:

Well blue actually! I bought a scooter on Friday of last week.

It’s a Piaggio Zip 50cc and it’s very exciting to get! I went and bought a jacket, gloves and helmet today and will hopefully have scooted by the end of the week, just in time for going back to uni. Much as I wanted a red one, I also didn’t want a red one as almost every scooter you see on the road today is red - great for visibility but sheesh what a pain to try to find in the car park!

I did get a red jacket though .

The hunt for pregnant women continues. I did work up the nerve to ask someone at work last week, and again on Sunday. I met with Emma last week and she offered to talk to women she knows who are also pregnant. I made contact with an independent midwife today who has a client in my area attempting a VBAC. So something may be something to come of all of this. I wish my uni was a lot more supportive of helping us find women though!

I have a cold, and man does it produce a lot of snot. My nose is sore from blowing it, and my sinuses ache, and my lips are dry. Blergh.

I have listed a heap of yummy yarn for sale. You can see these at: http://tinyurl.com/28v94u and a 10% discount applies to anyone mentioning this post or my existence when they order .